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KOffice evolves: first Calligra Suite snapshot released

The Calligra project, part of the KDE community, has announced the release of the first snapshot for version 2.4 of the Calligra Suite, a set of productivity applications. According to the developers, since splitting with KOffice five months ago, they have improved their core libraries as well as the applications themselves, adding that their goal is to "provide the best application suite on all platforms based on open standards."

The developers note that they have also added two applications: a diagramming and flowcharting application called Flow, which they say is built "in the spirit of Visio", and Braindump, a note taking application that "builds on the Calligra core and uses the full power of the openDocument Format to allow for text, images and even multimedia in the notes." Other changes include the start of work on the suite's user interface, and performance improvements that allow it to work better in limited environments, such as on older computers. Monthly snapshot builds will continue until October, when the final release is expected to arrive.

The Words app in the Calligra Suite.
Source: Calligra-Suite.org
The Calligra Suite features a word processor called Words, a spreadsheet application named Tables, a presentation program called Stage. Management apps include a database app called Kexi and a project planning app simply called Plan. Two "cutting edge" apps for artists are also included: a vector graphics drawing app named Karbon, and a painting and image editing app called Krita.

As with all development releases, use in production environments and on mission critical systems is not advised. Users testing the release are encouraged to provide feedback and report any bugs that they encounter. The project is also seeking developers interested in contributing to the suite's development.